Poor man's fancy bean dish - curried black beans over arugula

Poor man's fancy black bean dish - curried black beans over arugula

Short on money and/or time? Try this poor man's fancy black bean dish. It's my go-to meal these days: Curried black beans over arugula. It's as easy as one, two three! And it's healthy as all get out!

1. Prime pan with a little oil or cooking spray, throw in 1/2 large yellow onion chopped to sizzle, add 2 tbsp curry powder, 2 tbsp cumin, 1 tsp chili powder of your choice (I like sweet paprika), then swoosh that around for a few minutes until the spices are a bit toasted.

2. Add 1 can no-salt-added chopped tomatoes (or two chopped fresh roma tomatoes, juice, seeds and all), and let bubble for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, throw in the black beans and a smidge of honey to cut the acidity and cook on low heat for another five minutes or so.

3. Finally, serve over a bed of arugula, spinach or spring mix for a yummy, cheap and quick taste adventure!

BONUS: Sprinkle on a couple of tablespoons of cooked quinoa for an added protein boost.

Try it and let me know how it works out for you. I love this dish and it really does fuel my fit life journey! And thanks to the Ashraf family for introducing me to this easy cooking style!

Oh, and I should mention that the leftovers are great cold the next day. Pack them up just like the picture in a 4 cup to-go container and throw it in your backpack for a weekend hike...and check out my blog HikeyHikey! for great places to go (now serving New England, New Mexico and Southern California).

"Walking School Bus" concept to combat childhood obesity

In recognition of September being Childhood Obesity Awareness Month I have decided to dedicate a little time each morning searching the web for current childhood obesity research and news. This morning, I stumbled upon the best site I've found so far addressing the childhood obesity epidemic: Child Obesity News.

I came across this site when I saw on Facebook that a friend of mine, Christie Forbes Rutledge, was commenting about the fact that the town where she's raising her kids - which happens to be the town where we went to high school together - still does not offer busing for kids to and from school. I recall moving to Hanover in the late 1980s from another school district that did have busing and thinking, "Wow, this place is behind the times!"

In fact, more than one person commented on this friend's post with similar astonishment. "I can't believe that they still don't have a bus system. That's crazy," one person said. "That's just nuts," said another. Another still recalled her experience growing up in that school district, "I hated that walk".

It's the law in Pennsylvania, and as Christie pointed out, "you have to live more than three miles from the school for [the district] to have busing." It may sound crazy, and it is certainly more of a law to protect small school districts from financial hardship than anything else, but encouraging active transport to school is probably a good idea when considering the current state of obesity among America's school-children.

Walking three miles, though, shouldn't sound unreasonable, but to most people it does. Three miles? Think about it: When was the last time you walked three miles? I would hasten to bet that the extent of most Americans' daily walk is however far it is from the closest parking space they can find to the front door of the supermarket. I don't say this as insult but from experience. I certainly fit into that category a few years ago, but then I had a BMI of 56 at the time.

While the question of whether making kids walk to and from school is an undue hardship remains up for debate, many people come down on the side of safety. Sure, some say, walking is a good idea. But in the current age we live in is walking to and from school really a good idea?

Taking safety concerns into consideration, the website Child Obesity News published an article on its blog in August talking about a concept called the "walking school bus". Endorsed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the walking school bus concept is describes like this:

A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults. If that sounds simple, it is, and that’s part of the beauty of the walking school bus. It can be as informal as two families taking turns walking their children to school to as structured as a route with meeting points, a timetable and a regularly rotated schedule of trained volunteers.

After directing my friend to the website, she pointed out that Hanover indeed does have something in place that is like the walking school bus concept, which is good to hear. But this whole discussion makes me wonder, what kind of impact does walking to and from school actually have on childhood obesity? 

Not a matter of mere walking to school, my friend points out, "Kids are obese because they eat fast food, watching TV and playing video games.  Plus they don't let the kids on the playground in the morning before school starts and they don't get to go outside until right after lunch time for 10-15 minutes. They get one more recess in the afternoon for 10-15 minutes."

Furthermore, my friend reports that her daughter "says she is bored and hates sitting at her desk all day. I think if they let them outside for a little in the morning like they used to she and the other children would benefit."

I wholeheartedly agree! For more information on Childhood Obesity and ideas on what you can do to help combat the epidemic, check out Child Obesity News. There is a brief, informative and research-driven presentation on the site that addresses factors that lead to childhood obesity: Addiction to Highly Pleasurable Food and Childhood Obesity. Also, you can follow them on Twitter @obesityblog. And of course you can follow me on Twitter @myfitlife2day.

Will Biggest Loser Season 14 "confront" or "exploit" childhood obesity?

Biggest Loser gym on set at the Gillette Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains

My friend Angela Ashley just told me that Season 14 of The Biggest Loser will premiere in January with Jillian, Dolvett, and Bob as trainers. She said:

The series will have some surprises along with the introduction of childhood obesity into the show. 

Each of the three trainers will have one teen (13-17 years old) on their group who will train and be followed by a special medical team with expertise in childhood/adolescent nutrition. These teens will not be eliminated as the other contestants. They will be followed throughout the show by the medical team and also after they return home for long term weight/healthy lifestyle management. I read that they would not be weighing on camera as the other contestants. 

Personally, I think that this is an excellent idea. In light of the fact that September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, this is one example of how more must be done to help children and teens become healthier and live happier and more productive lives.

I couldn't agree more, Angela! By the way, I was at the Gillette Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains just outside of Malibu recently and I stumbled upon the Biggest Loser set. They prop people were busy getting the gym ready, and I chatted with someone from production who said filming was going to start sometime next week! Casting is still being finalized.

There's a spot called Inspiration Point that I plan to hike to during the filming to see if I can glimpse a bit of what's going on. I'll post pics if I get some, for sure.

Mindful eating, swimming and hiking in Palm Springs

I recently re-located to Palm Springs, CA, from Albuquerque, NM, in large part to jump-start my fit-life journey, which had become a bit stalled. I mean, I've been getting lots of exercise, so that's good. But I've been lax in my food mindfulness and my weight has gone up a bit since my low of 255 pounds last year. In fact, recently I weighed in at nearly 285. I quickly pulled in the reigns on my eating habits and am once again below 280. But I need to be more pro-active, and that's what I'm doing here in the low desert at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains.

Sitting on top of the world - San Jacinto Peak at 10,388 ft.

Obviously I love hiking. Yesterday I went on an 11-mile out-and-back hike from the upper tram terminal here in Palm Springs to the peak of San Jacinto. It was a wonderful excursion, and my body is thanking me for such a strenuous workout. But I need to do more than just hiking if I want to reach my goal of losing more than 60 pounds over the next 6 months. Once I hit that goal, I will have lost the 200 pounds I set out to lose when I first began this blog under the name The Fitness 400 Project in 2008.

So this means big changes to my routine. I'm back on a restricted calorie diet of no more than 2,000 calories (except on big hiking days when my body needs the calories for mere survival). And I'm also back to doing my medicine ball workouts and plank exercises daily. On top of this, just today I have added freestyle swimming to the mix. I did five laps (125 meters) in the pool in the community where I live. I will do another five laps tonight. For this week, I will continue to do 125 meters both in the morning and evening until I'm ready to increase the amount to seven or eight next week and then 10 within two week's time.

How can I NOT take up swimming with this practically in my back yard?

The hard part of swimming for me is that my lungs are not used to the staggered breathing required when freestyle swimming. This morning I had to rest and catch my breath after each lap. I wasn't bothered by this, but my goal is to improve so I can do all of my laps without resting between them.

Well, that's about it for now. I will post my new diet soon, so stay tuned for that. And don't forget to check out my other blogs - Man of Merit and HikeyHikey! - for more on hiking and other outdoors fitness activities. Fifteen pictures from the San Jacinto Peak hike can be found here.